


Small Steps

by Welsper



Category: Miracle Dieter Miyuki
Genre: Art, Eating Disorders, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Illustrations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2020-12-17 04:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21048482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welsper/pseuds/Welsper
Summary: Sonoko's eating disorder threatens to kill her and Yukimi doesn't know how to help. But maybe Miyuki can?





	Small Steps

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Piinutbutter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piinutbutter/gifts).

“You want to eat them all, don’t you? My beautiful dishes…”

Sonoko stared at the steaming plates in front of her. All of her favorite dishes, the one she said she didn’t like anymore to her mother when she made them for Sonoko. The one she said she didn’t care for when Yukimi cooked them in class with her grandmother’s homegrown vegetables, the ones that made her mouth water and her stomach growl.

She shook her head and pressed her hands to her temples, but the smell wouldn’t go away. The hunger wouldn’t go away. Her head was swimming and before she knew it, she was bent over the plates that piled sky high and that strange man was still making more of them.

“Sonoko, stop! Binges are bad for you! Fiatee! I won’t let you get away with this!”

Sonoko didn’t even look up from her meal, the one she chowed and slurped down without even chewing properly. It was so tasty, so wonderful, and yet she barely registered any of it as she shoved it down her throat.

A strong, but gentle hand tugged her back.

“No! I need to… all my favorite foods,” Sonoko whimpered but Miyuki held her close. The smell was maddening and Sonoko struggled and trashed in Miyuki’s arms. What was wrong with her? Normally, she had so much self-control. But this food… It awakened some beast inside Sonoko.

“Sonoko-chan… food it meant to be eaten properly, to give thanks to those that made it for you with love. Chewed properly, so you may enjoy all the work put into it, all the ingredients grown and harvested and the preparation and the cooking,” she said and Sonoko heard her but still she hungered.

“I know it’s hard, but try to endure, okay? I will defeat him,” Miyuki said and Sonoko clutched at empty air as the woman left her sitting there. And she so badly wanted to go back to eating and eating but Miyuki believed in her, didn’t she? And if someone like Miyuki could not manage to not succumb to the temptation of the heavenly meal in front of them, then surely Sonoko could too.

Maybe Miyuki would be proud of her. Maybe she could be like Miyuki too then.

“There! That should be the last of it,” Miykui said, hands stemmed on her slender hips. She was out of breath and sweat was beading on her long limbs, but she had won. The cook and his horrible duck were gone. And so were the dishes. Sonoko never knew what it was that Miyuki did with the unhealthy foods. To her, it almost seemed like a miracle.

“Don’t worry, Sonoko-chan! I will always come to the aid of maidens who need me!”

But no miracle could erase the evidence of Sonoko’s weak mind and lack of self-control.

Sonoko grasped at her own stomach, a horrified look on her face. She was pudgy and disgusting and she wanted to throw up.

“I don’t need your help,” Sonoko said, tears in her eyes. What would someone so beautiful understand! She got up and stumbled away. Miyuki reached out to her, but she pushed her arm away.

“Leave me alone.”

And there was a sad look on Miyuki’s face, but she didn’t press further. Maybe she saw a lost case. Some miracles were too much to ask for.

But Sonoko didn’t need one.

* * *

This was fine. She had done it before. If she just didn’t eat anything, kept to her fast, those pounds would melt away. And then she just had to keep not eating. She could get all her vitamins from the pills, it was okay. Eating was for weak people, for fatties like Yukimi. Sonoko didn’t nead any of it!

She ignored the headaches pounding in her head, she ignored the wobbling of her knees and her shaking fingers. Her body would yield to her mind, it always did, eventually. Sonoko was stronger than her base desires. That day back then, it could never repeat. Miyuki could not see her like that again, could not see the little sow that was inside Sonoko, trying to burst out. That one was only for Sonoko to deal with, to stare at her from the corner of the mirror, from childhood photos, from the depths of her mind.

So she got up when the teacher called her to the blackboard. So she ignored the flickering of the lights and her eyes going out of focus. The weakness in her limbs was nothing she hadn’t dealt with before. This was necessary as much as it was punishment for failing like that.

It was going to be fine.

Sonoko hit her head on a desk when she collapsed in the middle of the classroom.

She groaned as she came to again, the shrill lights of the nurse’s room shining into her eyes. Sonoko squinted her eyes against it and put a hand over her face. Had her skin always been that pale? Was that just the lamp?

“Sorry… I’ll put those out,” a voice said next to her and then the room was dark. Sonoko breathed a sigh of relief.

“Sonoko-chan...”

Yukimi sat down next to her on the chair again. Her hands were folded over her skirt and she looked down on them, unsure what to do. It was one thing to fight off calorie bombs and fatty dishes the cook made to entice them. But she knew that not everything could be solved by that. Just removing the food out of sight wasn’t enough.

“I know it’s difficult for you,” she started, carefully. Sonoko whipped her head up, tears and anger bright in her eyes.

“What would you know?! Do you really think I am going to listen to eating advice from a pig like you?! Just leave me alone!”

Sonoko jumped up abruptly from the bed and ran, leaving Yukimi along with her feeling of helplessness and failure. Had the prince chosen wrong after all? Was she no good? What good was she as a Miracle Dieter when she couldn’t help one girl as herself? How could she grow up to be Miyuki forever when Yukimi couldn’t do anything?

She couldn’t let Sonoko run again, not after she had just collapsed. It would only get worse from her if she didn’t do anything. If she didn’t say anything. No matter how much Sonoko hated her, Yukimi had to do something.

But there was a Yukimi Sonoko didn’t hate, wasn’t there?

There was no one to fight now. Fiatee hadn’t shown up. But still, Yukimi had to battle for the health and future of one girl. One girl that was so special to her, more than anyone. She ran after Sonoko and that alone burned enough calories for her to transform.

When she reached the sobbing Sonoko hiding in a corner of the school, she was Miyuki again, tall and beautiful and slender Miyuki.

Miyuki reached out and gingerly touched Sonoko’s chin, lifting it up to meet her eyes.

“Sonoko-chan, I cannot promise you everything will be fine now. But you know that yourself, don’t you?”

Sonoko leaned into the touch and Miyuki smiled. Even someone like that wanted love. And she so badly wanted to give it to her. But Sonoko only liked Miyuki, didn’t she? And she wouldn’t be Miyuki for so many years… She wanted to hurry up and grow into an adult already. Then maybe Sonoko would look at her like that too. Look at her with wonder and amazement, look at her like she was actually someone, a person, instead of just an eyesore.

“I will defeat the villains who want to lead maidens astray, but in each of us is a villain trying to sabotage us. And that one you can only defeat with your own strength, Sonoko-chan.”

Sonoko sniffled.

“But I tried! I tried… to eat better, to… eat.”

The girl reached into her pocket and presented a bottle of supplements. Miyuki’s stomach almost turned at the sight of them. How dare some companies prey on the hopes and dreams of young girls like that! They were so easily influenced. How dare they tell them they weren’t right the way the are, to diet from such a young age, when they were still growing and needed proper food and exercise, not the promise of false miracles.

“But it’s so hard!” Sonoko threw the bottle against the wall. It cracked open and colorful pills spilled out over the floor. She broke into sobs, a miserable little pile on the floor. So different from the haughty Sonoko, who showed herself to be so sure of herself and what she wanted. The loud Sonoko who spoke her mind and never let anyone see her so weak. The Sonoko who only sneered at Yukimi.

And Yukimi loved that Sonoko too, the same as the weak one.

Miyuki reached out and wrapped her arms around her. Sonoko cried bitterly against her chest, a lost little girl. But there was a strength in her and Miyuki knew that one day, she would win her fight too. She was not a Miracle Dieter, but one didn’t have to be to win over bad eating habits.

“I know it’s hard, Sonoko-chan. And I can’t promise you it will ever get any easier. Eating disorders are not so quickly defeated.”

“But you can! You are always so strong, and you defeat all the villains. And you are so pretty too. I wish I was like you,” Sonoko sniffled.

“But you can only be you, Sonoko-chan,” Miyuki said gently and stroked Sonoko's cheek. “And everyone who loves you wouldn’t have it any other way. You are strong. And I _know _you can get better. With the hope and strength in your own heart and the help of your friends.”

Miyuki pulled Sonoko’s fringe out of the way and kissed her forehead.

“And I will always be there for you too.”

She stood up and offered a gloved hand to Sonoko. The girl hesitated, but then took it. And then she stood tall in front of her. She was strong and beautiful. A Miracle Dieter’s duty was not to solve every girl’s eating problems for them, but rather to guide them along and eliminate the dark threats they could not fight on their own. Sonoko could do it, Miyuki knew that. It might take a long time and there might be relapses, but there would be a day in the future when she was healthy. And Miyuki was proud of every small step she made towards that recovery.

Miyuki unfolded her wings and rose into the air. When she sat down out of Sonoko’s sight, she was Yukimi again, but the smile was still on her face. She touched her own lips and blushed. She had kissed Sonoko! Granted, it was just a forehead kiss, but… Sonoko had been so warm and soft.

* * *

“Yukimi-chan! You have a visitor!”

Yukimi practically fell down the stairs and her heart skipped a beat when she saw who was standing in the door frame. Sonoko waved at her shyly.

“I’m sorry I said all those things to you.” Sonoko’s face was red and her head hung low. Yukimi reached out and Sonoko didn’t flinch when she gently pulled hair strands out of her face. She was so pretty, even when she looked sad. Her skin looked better now, the dark circles under her eyes almost gone. There was color on her cheeks and her fingers didn’t shake anymore. Sonoko was getting better.

“It’s okay,” Yukimi said and Sonoko shook her head.

“No, it’s not okay. I hurt you and I did it on purpose. I always let out my frustrations on you and you didn’t deserve that.”

Yukimi leaned forward and kissed Sonoko on the cheek. They were both as red as the tomatoes in her grandmother’s garden now but they were smiling.

“And I don’t think you are a pig at all… you’re pretty,” Sonoko said quietly.

“You too. You’re pretty, I mean,” Yukimi said hastily and they both grinned at each other.

“Do you think you want to stay for dinner?” Yukimi asked carefully and squeezed Sonoko’s hand in her’s gently. Their fingers interlaced and Yukimi carefully stroked the pale skin with her thumb.

“Yes… I think I would like that,” Sonoko answered after a while, a determined look on her face.

And maybe things wouldn’t be perfect right away.

Maybe things would actually be really hard.

But Yukimi would gladly see that future with Sonoko, no matter how hard it would be.


End file.
